{
  "type": "article",
  "title": "Larry Ellison Had the Billions Lined Up to Buy Apple for Steve Jobs, So Why Did Jobs Turn It Down",
  "summary": "With Apple sliding toward collapse, Oracle founder Larry Ellison was ready to buy the company outright and install Steve Jobs as boss. Jobs said no, and the path he chose instead changed everything.",
  "content": "The Apple that today sits among the most valuable companies on the planet once stood dangerously close to the edge. The middle years of the 1990s read like a nightmare for the firm. Losses piled up quarter after quarter, employees were being let go in large numbers, and the stock kept sinking on the market. Things looked so grim that plenty of observers had quietly concluded the company simply would not survive much longer.\n\nIt was at this fragile moment that Oracle founder Larry Ellison came up with a bold idea. He wanted to buy Apple in its entirety and hand the reins back to his old and close friend Steve Jobs. To pull it off, he had gone as far as preparing to raise billions of dollars. But the story took a turn few could have predicted. Jobs flatly refused the offer.\n\nEllison Had the Whole Plan Ready\nEllison himself recounted the episode during a public event. At that time Apple was valued at roughly five billion dollars, which works out to around ₹41,500 crore in today's terms. He had worked out exactly how to gather that kind of money. His thinking was blunt and simple, buy the company first and, on the very same day, name Jobs its CEO. Apple's finances back then were in a terrible state, the bleeding refused to stop and investor confidence was thinning out by the day. Ellison was convinced that only Jobs coming back could keep the sinking ship afloat. Yet the entire plan never moved beyond paper, because Jobs simply would not agree to it.\n\nWhy He Walked Away From Such a Chance\nIn those days Jobs was busy running his own company, NeXT. His argument was that he had no interest in returning merely to occupy a chair. His condition was different, he wanted Apple to step forward and buy NeXT itself, then bring him back on its own terms as and when it needed him. Jobs also made it plain that his goal was not to earn money. He worried that slipping into the top job through a buyout or a takeover would send the wrong signal to employees and to the wider industry. He firmly believed that only a proper, dignified return would let him win people's trust and steer the company in a fresh direction.\n\nHow the Picture Changed\nEventually, in December 1996, Apple bought NeXT for about 429 million dollars. Jobs first joined the company as an advisor and then, in 1997, stepped into the role of interim CEO. Under his watch Apple took a string of big and risky decisions. What followed became history. Products like the iMac, the iPod and the iPhone completely flipped the company's fortunes. The result is there for everyone to see, Apple now stands in the front row of the world's largest companies, with a market value that has crossed even the 3.7 trillion dollar mark. Had Ellison's buyout gamble gone through back then, Apple's story might well have unfolded very differently. But the road Jobs picked is the one that brought him back to the helm and lifted Apple to heights now counted among the greatest comebacks in the history of business.\n\nWhat this means for you\n• For investors: Apple's turnaround is a reminder that a company that looks doomed can stage a huge comeback with the right leadership, so judging a stock purely on its current losses can be risky.\n• For tech fans and young professionals: The episode shows that basing major decisions on conviction and trust, rather than just a title or money, can pay off far more over the long run.\n\nQuestions & Answers\n\n1. When was Apple struggling with a financial crisis?\nIn the middle years of the 1990s Apple was posting continuous losses, laying off employees and watching its share price fall sharply.\n\n2. What was Larry Ellison's plan?\nOracle founder Larry Ellison wanted to buy Apple and, on the same day, make his friend Steve Jobs the company's CEO.\n\n3. How much was Apple valued at back then?\nAt that time Apple was valued at around five billion dollars, which is roughly ₹41,500 crore in today's terms.\n\n4. Why did Steve Jobs reject the offer?\nHe did not want to return merely for the CEO chair and feared a takeover would send the wrong message to employees and the industry.\n\n5. When and for how much did Apple buy NeXT?\nIn December 1996 Apple bought Steve Jobs' company NeXT for about 429 million dollars.\n\n6. When did Steve Jobs become Apple's CEO?\nHe first joined as an advisor and then became the company's interim CEO in 1997.\n\n7. What is Apple's market value today?\nToday Apple is among the world's top companies, with a market value that has crossed 3.7 trillion dollars.\n\nInspiration & Lessons\n• How you arrive matters more than the title: Jobs refused to return just for the CEO chair, showing that the manner of getting somewhere can outweigh the position itself.\n• Trust before money: He stated plainly that his aim was not to make money but to earn people's confidence first.\n• Move on your own terms: He insisted the company should feel his value and call him back, rather than being forced in through a deal.\n• Patience pays: Waiting to return the right way became the very foundation of Apple's historic success.",
  "url": "https://trendkia.com/en/success-stories/arabon-dolara-ka-sauda-taiyara-tha-phira-bhi-steve-jobs-ne-apple-ki-kamana-lene-se-kyon-kiya-inakara-9598",
  "category": "Success Stories",
  "publishedAt": "2026-07-21",
  "tags": [
    "Steve Jobs",
    "Apple",
    "Larry Ellison",
    "NeXT acquisition",
    "Oracle",
    "Apple history",
    "tech company"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "site": "TrendKia"
}